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Notre Dame has decided to stand up and be counted in the struggle to preserve a robust tradition of religious liberty in America.

Notre Dame President, Fr John Jenkins, announced: â€œToday the University of Notre Dame filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana regarding a recent mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).â€

He points out that the issue at stake is not the morality of contraception, about which the Church is clear in its condemnation, and American society in its legality, availability, and widespread use.

â€œThis filing,â€ Jenkins explains, â€œis about the freedom of a religious organization to live its mission, and its significance goes well beyond any debate about contraceptives. For if we concede that the Government can decide which religious organizations are sufficiently religious to be awarded the freedom to follow the principles that define their mission, then we have begun to walk down a path that ultimately leads to the undermining of those institutions. [more]